Street maintenance fee up for vote before Abilene City Council

The Abilene City Council is scheduled to hold a public hearing and vote on an ordinance Thursday to adopt a street maintenance fee.

The council meets at 8:30 a.m. at City Hall, 555 Walnut St.

Two items related to the fee are on the agenda.

The first is setting a trip factor index, which City Manager Robert Hanna called "a critical part of the formula" to set the fee for businesses.

Businesses will pay between $25 and $75 monthly based on how much traffic they generate. Properties with multiple businesses on one water meter will pay on a per meter basis, Hanna said during a briefing for the media Monday.

The second item on the agenda related to the fee is a public hearing and possible vote on the ordinance itself.

Hanna said that after the previous meeting on the fee, "there was a lot of Facebook chatter about if you are over 65 and can afford to pay, why should you get a reduction in fees? Shouldn't it be based on income only? If you're disabled and can afford to pay why should you get a reduction in fees?"

For residential customers, the proposed fee is $6.75 per month. Reductions would be available to $1.75 per month for people who are over 65 or disabled.

"We not driven by the narrative on social media but it will be up to the council to make a decision on what they want to do with that," Hanna said, noting that there has been good dialogue on the street maintenance fee and more than 20 meetings held on the subject.